Data transaction systems which communicate with a plurality of remote terminals to transfer information used to complete a transaction or compile a database are well known. Typically, such systems include a central transaction processing system which may maintain a database of information such as customer or consumer data. Exemplary information in such a database may include customer identification, customer account numbers, credit limits and/or account balances from which a customer may draw. The central transaction processing system is typically coupled to a plurality of remote transaction or data input terminals. Transaction computers may include special purpose devices such as automatic teller machines (ATMs), point of sale (POS) terminals, credit card terminals, and screen phone terminals. Screen phone terminals are devices which integrate a telephone with an ATM-like device and possibly a magnetic card swipe reader. Data input terminals may include personal computers (PCs) interfaced to data collection devices or special purpose data collection terminals or monitors.
In these known data transaction systems, a user usually initiates a transaction by requesting access to funds in an account or from a credit line maintained by the central processing system. The request is transmitted to the central processing system which performs a verification to determine whether the user is a valid user of the system, has an account within the system, and that the amount of the transaction is within the limits of the consumer's credit line or that the user has the requested funds available in an existing account monitored by the central processing system. The central processing system then transmits authorization for or denial of the transaction to the remote terminal. In response to the message from the central processing system, the remote terminal dispenses cash (for an ATM) or the merchant provides the goods being purchased to the user if the authorization message indicates that the consumer's funds will be transferred to the merchant's account. Similar communication exchanges occur in data systems where electronic documents and other information are provided to a central site for compilation or processing. Consequently, this background discussion applies to all such transaction and data systems. Though the remainder of the discussion is directed to transaction systems, the reader should appreciate that the comments also apply to data systems as well.
The remote terminals may be coupled to the central processing system in several ways. For example, in some ATM systems, the ATMs are coupled to the central processing system through dedicated telephone or other data communication lines. These systems are preferred because they provide a relatively high degree of security since the dedicated data line coupling the central processing system to the ATM is not generally accessible by members of the public. The physical security of the dedicated data line is, however, expensive because no other traffic may utilize the line. Thus, the cost of leasing the dedicated line to an ATM with relatively low volumes of transactions may yield a high communication cost per transaction.
In an effort to reduce the communication cost per transaction, some transaction or data systems utilize telephone lines through a publicly-switched telephone network (PSTN) which may be accessed by other members of the public. Specifically, devices such as credit card terminals and screen phone terminals typically include a modem which converts the digital messages of the remote terminal into frequency modulated analog signals which may be transmitted over telephone lines to a modem at the central processing system. In other systems, the terminal may communicate digital data directly over ISDN lines of the PSTN to the central processing system. This line of communication between a remote terminal and the central processing system is performed by having the remote terminal dial a telephone number associated with the central processing system to establish communication with the central processing system. This type of communication path is relatively secure because the switching networks for the communication traffic through the PSTN are not readily accessible by the public and during the course of the financial transaction, only the central processing system and remote terminal are on the line.
Regardless of the communication method used to couple the central processing system to the remote terminals, the protocol and data formats used between the devices is typically proprietary. That is, the operator of each financial transaction system designs its own protocol and data message format for communication with the processor at the central site or generates a variant within a standard such as those established by the ANSI committee or the like for such communication. As a result, the remote terminals must include software that supports each operator's protocol and message formats in order to be compatible with an operator's central site. For example, application software in a credit terminal such as the TRANZ330, TRANZ380, or OMNI390 manufactured by VeriFone implement one or more of the communication protocols and formats for National Data Corporation (NDC), VISANET, MASTERCARD, BUYPASS, and National Bancard Corporation (NaBANCO) system processors in order to support transactions with the most popular transaction centers. Thus, the communication software absorbs a significant amount of terminal resources which could be used to support other terminal operations.
A related problem arises from the expanding home banking market. A customer of home banking system typically uses a screen phone terminal or a personal computer (PC) having a modem to establish communication through a PSTN to a central transaction processing system. Again, the operator of the central processing system must provide information regarding the data message formats for communicating with the central processing system to a vendor of software for the home banking terminals or must provide that software to its customers. As a result, home banking customers must purchase software to communicate with each banking system of which the customer wants to be a member. This cost and the need to install additional communication programs may make some consumers reluctant to be a member of more than one banking system or to change banking systems.
A communication system becoming increasingly popular and which provides standardized communication is the Internet. The Internet is an open network of networks which communicate through a variety of physical communication devices such as telephone lines, direct communication lines, and the like. Each network is coupled to the main Internet network for communication through a host computer supporting a TCP/IP router or bridger. The host computer typically includes a program, frequently called a Web server, which acts as a gateway to resources at the host computer which may be resident on the host computer or a network coupled to the host computer. Each server has an address identifying the location of the resources available through the Web server. The router recognizes communication for the server and directs the message to the server or it recognizes that the communication should be forwarded to another server. As a result, communication within the Internet may be point-to-point, but more likely, the communication path is a somewhat circuitous one with the information passing through the routers of multiple servers before reaching its final destination.
A number of message protocols and formats have been developed for the Internet. The physical communication protocol and data message format is the Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The TCP/IP protocol involves multiple layers of encapsulating headers containing communication information which are used to provide byte streams or datagram communications to computers on the networks coupled to the Internet. Encapsulated within TCP/IP headers are protocols which are used to format the data messages or transfer data from one computer to another computer coupled to the Internet. These protocols include File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol (POP), Telnet, and Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP). The advantage of these protocols is that each provides a standardized communication format for transferring information between computers on the Internet. These protocols are typically called open system protocols as they are publicly known and may be utilized by any programmer to develop programs for communicating with another computer coupled to the Internet. These non-proprietary protocols have contributed to the acceptance of using the Internet as an open network for coupling computer networks together.
While the Internet provides an open network for computer communication with publicly accessible protocols and formats, the Internet suffers from a number of limitations which preclude its effective use as a transaction or data system which uses non-standard I/O terminals and devices. First, circuitous communication presents a number of security issues for such a system For example, a Web server could incorporate a router which examines the address of each message coming through it and upon recognizing an address associated with a central transaction processing system, copy the data message for the unauthorized retrieval of customer-sensitive information such as account numbers and personal identification numbers (PINs) which may be contained in the message.
A second limitation of open networks such as the Internet is that communication on such networks is only supported for computers acting as servers or clients. Specifically, all of the protocols and formats are constructed for standard input/output (I/O) operations for a PC terminal. That is, text information is directed to a standard monitor screen, user input is expected from a standard keyboard, and files are transferred to standard peripherals such as a hard disk or diskette drive. Especially absent is the ability in open network protocols for communication with devices that only use communication interfaces such as RS-232C. As a result, communication over the Internet is primarily performed with standard PCs through network communication methods and interfaces.
This presents a number of problems for home banking or for interfacing non-standard I/O terminals such as credit card terminals or screen phones to open networks such as the Internet either directly or through a PC. Generally, non-standard I/O devices are devices which interface to a PC through a port not normally used for networks, such as a RS-232C port, or are devices which have limited input and output capabilities such as small screen displays or ten keypads. These devices are not supported on the Internet because servers use protocols that communicate with PCs supporting standard QWERTY keyboards and standard monitors. Consequently, users are limited to entering account numbers and the like through a keyboard of a PC-like device for processing at a central transaction processing system. To request a transaction, one need only have a person's credit card account number. If the credit card number had to be input through a magnetic card reader, unauthorized access to a customer's account would be less likely since physical possession of the credit card would be required to initiate the transaction.
Another limitation of the standard I/O devices currently supported by the open network protocols is the lack of encryption. For example, PIN pads, which are typically incorporated in ATMs, automatically encrypt in hardware a PIN entered by a user. Such devices typically encrypt the number by implementing a data encryption standard (DES) algorithm in hardware before the PIN is transmitted or stored. When a standard keyboard is used to input the PIN, no hardware encryption is performed and, as a result, an unencrypted copy of the PIN is provided to the memory of the PC. Storage of unencrypted PINs is in contravention of current banking regulations. If PIN pads could be read via Internet protocols, then such a lapse in PIN security would be less likely to occur.
Another I/O device not supported on open networks are smart cards which are increasing in use. Smart cards include a processor and memory in which information regarding the amount of funds in a particular account, a transaction history, account numbers, and customer data may be stored. The card may be read through a smart card reader which is a computer having a processor and memory but usually provided with non-QWERTY keypads and limited displays. A transaction processor may validate a card owner through a PIN provided through a keypad, determine the amount of money remaining on the card and debit the card itself for a transaction amount by communicating with the smart card reader with one of the proprietary protocols discussed above. Such information is not readily obtainable by the owner of the card and so cannot be entered through a keyboard or the like. Smart card readers are non-standard devices which may be coupled to a PC through a COMM1 or COMM2 port. However, none of the standard protocols and message formats for open network communications currently provide I/O operations for such devices.
All systems which attempt to provide three party communication to execute an electronic transaction suffer from a number of limitations which present risks greater than those in a normal transaction performed at the point of sale. In a typical point of sale (POS) transaction, the consumer hands a debit or credit card to a merchant's agent who may examine the card for security markings such as holograms, watermarks, or a cardholder signature. The agent then places the card into a reader for acquiring information from the card and, in some cases, have the consumer enter a PIN into a PIN entry device which encrypts the PIN in a hardware implemented scheme. If the PIN is entered, it is transmitted with the information from the card to a processing center, typically in one of the formats discussed above, under a X.25 protocol or the like. The processing center returns an authorization granted or denied message. The reader typically has a printer coupled to it through an RS-232C port or the like and a purchase agreement is printed. The consumer signs the agreement, the merchant's agent may verify the signature, and the merchant retains an original of the agreement and the consumer a copy. In this scenario, the merchant has initiated the communication to the processing center. The safeguards noted above permit the processing center to charge a merchant a lower processing fee than when a consumer initiates a transaction. Consumer initiated transactions present a greater risk because the consumer provides an agent an account number in a telephone conversation or non-encrypted DTMF transmission. Thus, there is no card inspection, signature verification, or PIN verification. As a result, such transactions are limited to credit cards because debit cards require that the cardholder be present to enter a PIN into an appropriate PIN entry device.
What is needed is a system that permits consumers remote from a merchant to order goods and present payment in a secured manner so the merchant's risk and processing costs, as well as a cardholder's exposure to fraud, is reduced. What is needed is a way for a processing center to communicate through an open network with non-standard I/O devices such as credit card terminals, personal digital assistants, and screen phone terminals or with non-standard I/O devices coupled to the open network through a PC or the like. What is needed is a transaction or data system which utilizes an open network such as the Internet to support electronic transactions or data compilation in a secure manner without undue limitation as to the devices with which communication may be made.